Latest news with #footballculture
South China Morning Post
07-07-2025
- Sport
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong ‘crazy guys' among fans flocking to South Korea for East Asian Football Championship
The two major Hong Kong fans groups have begun mobilising ahead of the city team's assault on East Asian Football Championship glory this week. Hundreds of supporters are set to back the team against Japan on Tuesday, and hosts South Korea on Friday, before an expected four-figure travelling army roar on Hong Kong in next week's blockbuster clash with China. The group Chi Sin Lo, 'Crazy Guys' in Cantonese, have around 900 members in a WhatsApp channel launched for the tournament. 'The football culture in Hong Kong is continuously growing,' Calvin Choi, a core Chi Sin Lo member, said. 'About 10 years ago, the [ultra] fans group was 10 people. If you stood up in the stadium, people would ask you to sit down and stop blocking their view. 'Hong Kong people love watching Barcelona or Manchester United, but you're shouting at the TV, the players don't know who you are. When they get in the stadium, they realise it's much more passionate than football on TV. It's happening in front of them. 'People are motivated by the environment. Following Hong Kong, you can talk with the players, and have selfies with them. They remember you. The connection is closer than anywhere else.'
Times
28-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Pompous Europe take note: no fans are more real than fervent Brazilians
Aside from his natural gifts, there was a reason Seve Ballesteros was such a great Ryder Cup golfer. He had a thing about America. Genuinely disliked the place. Resented that he was tagged the car-park champion, bristled at the lack of respect suggested by the title. Ballesteros could never see the affection, the celebration of the unconventional. And when the wider continent of Europe was invited to join Great Britain and Ireland in 1979, he made it his mission to make America pay. Some have wondered why Brazilian clubs, in particular, thrived early on at the Club World Cup. Was it the heat, a greater love for the competition, the timing that places this in South America's mid-season, after the European campaign has reached its exhausting conclusion? Yes, some of all that, probably; but something else, too. It's very possible that Brazil, indeed the rest of the world, feels about Europe the way Ballesteros did America. That it feels belittled, patronised, treated with contempt. And it thinks Europe has a cheek. Plundering its best players, while disregarding the football cultures creating them. The world has a point. How many times, since the Club World Cup started, have we been told that 'real' fans do not care for it; that 'ordinary' fans will not be watching, as if ours are the only eyeballs that matter. Who is 'real' in this debate, who has the right to speak for 'ordinary'? How presumptuous to consider our affiliations and preferences any more genuine than those of thousands of fans from Rio De Janeiro or Buenos Aires that have descended on this tournament. Our pomposity is staggering. If you're not interested, fair enough. But don't consider your view, your voice, all that counts. In 2005, trying to get Palestinians to vote in an upcoming election, the actor Richard Gere recorded a television message. 'Hi, I'm Richard Gere,' he began, 'and I'm speaking for the entire world'. There are a few back home who appear to believe they do the same. If fans from South America, Africa, and Asia are not real, if their football is so insignificant, try this simple test. Remove every player from those continents from the Premier League champions of the past 20 years. Take Alisson, Mohamed Salah, Luis Díaz and Alexis Mac Allister from Liverpool this season; take the entire forward line of Salah, Sadio Mané and Roberto Firmino, plus Alisson and Fabinho from the 2019-20 side. Then extract Ederson, Sergio Agüero, Yaya Touré, Fernandinho, Pablo Zabaleta, Riyad Mahrez and Carlos Tevez from the various teams built at Manchester City. See how Chelsea fare without Michael Essien, Willian, Diego Costa, Didier Drogba, Oscar, John Obi Mikel or Hernán Crespo. Even Manchester United's most recent title-winning team of 2012-23 contained Javier Hernández, Shinji Kagawa, Rafael and Antonio Valencia, from precisely the type of supposed backwaters being diminished here. So if these are grudge matches, that much is understandable. Europe are football's colonialists, taking the good stuff then wondering why the locals are poor, untrusting and unruly. There was no point in having a Club World Cup, it was said, because it would just be dominated by the big European teams; and no one thought it ironic that the reason those European teams are so dominant is that they are stuffed to the gills with the plunder of far continents. That Jorginho plays for Flamengo and Thiago Silva for Fluminese only now Europe have had their use of them. Look at the players propping up Uefa's contingent: Federico Valverde, Vinícius Júnior and Rodrygo for Real Madrid, Lautaro Martínez for Inter Milan, Enzo Fernández, Moisés Caicedo and Nicolas Jackson for Chelsea. And then, having sequestered the world's product, Europe decries the prospect of there being a competition and haughtily suggests those who wish for one are not real fans. So it is rather delightful that far from the last 16 being almost exclusively European, the remaining teams are spread across four confederations with Uefa involvement amounting to nine clubs from its initial rump of 12. By contrast, every Brazilian entrant made the knockout stage and at least one will be in the last eight. Actually, it would be great if a Brazilian club won this. Unlikely, given that the country's best footballers are all in Europe, but it would be one in the eye for those that run down the thousands who have imbued this competition with life, as if they are in some way inferior to an English fan, sitting on his sofa, sneering. They are real fans here. As real as you, as real as anyone. Never think it means more at Anfield. Never believe devotion is made more special because your team is lousy and in League Two. Anyone who has encountered the fanaticism around River Plate or Boca Juniors knows better than to patronise. In 2000, I stood by the side of the roads around the Maracana as coaches arrived from São Paulo carrying supporters of Corinthians to their Club World Cup final with Vasco da Gama. It was beautiful and terrifying in equal measure. It is six hours, close to 300 miles, between the cities and those that made the journey appeared stimulated by potions unknown. If the coaches had windows, they streamed with sweaty condensation, the product of a ferocious fanaticism. Most inside were stripped to the waist, screaming, broiling, banging on the glass, hanging out of broken panes, flying the skull and crossbones that is the unofficial flag of Corinthians. I would have enjoyed seeing some of the Club World Cup naysayers telling them they were not real, that their fervour was somehow inferior because they weren't on social media tweeting about sportswashing or there being too much football. It is not about money to those fans. It is not about Gianni Infantino, or who is propping up DAZN. This is about their team trying to become the world champions. And if they can do that, they can stare down Europe, too. Think back to when Argentina beat France in the 2022 World Cup final. There seemed a lot of pent-up anger released that day. A lot of players who cared not only about what they had won, but who they had defeated to get there. Looking back, it was almost as if they had something they wanted to say to us. Increase to 48 teams would hurt game. Over to you, Gianni . . . I was wrong about one key aspect of this Club World Cup. I thought it should have been 16 teams. Continental champions only. Tight, clean. No coefficient placeholders. It would have been shorter, streamlined, perhaps less controversial. But it wouldn't have worked. Too small, too many exclusions. If Fifa had just allowed Champions League winners from around the globe, there would have been no teams from Argentina, none from France, Italy or Portugal. Some of the continental champions from Asia, Africa and the Americas would have had to play-off. It would have been too limited in its appeal. This feels right, at 32. Big enough to be widely welcoming, small enough to maintain an elite standard. Almost inevitably it will expand to 48 team, or more, in the future; but that will create its own problems. Just as there is a risk of Fifa money making a single club — such as Auckland City — unstoppable in its own region, so an expanded tournament would create powerful cabals in even the strongest leagues. There does not seem such great danger to competition in the Premier League from the money earned by Chelsea and Manchester City this time around, because it is unlikely to be the same pair in 2029. England having two Champions League winners between 2021 and 2024 shut out any other Premier League qualifiers. Yet Liverpool would almost certainly have featured had Uefa coefficients come into play. Yet what if, with expansion, the limit of two clubs per country — barring continental champions, which is why Brazil have four here — was lifted? Liverpool, City, Chelsea and Arsenal could become a permanent Champions League/Club World Cup bloc, pulling away from their rivals financially. The next stage of the development has to be handled very carefully, then. Do we trust Infantino, the Fifa president, with that? Do we buffalo. Class of 2021 prove form doesn't matter One of the criticisms of the Club World Cup is that the qualification period is too long and there should be more recency bias. How are the present champions of England, Italy and Spain not present, yet Chelsea, the winners of the 2021 Champions League final and subsequently third, 12th, sixth and fourth in the Premier League, are? Put simply, if the competition is to take place every four years, it is right that the four Champions League winners are here. Yet beyond an argument for straightforward meritocracy, the results have also been interesting. With the exception of Al-Ahly, winners of the African Champions League in 2021 who joined the rest of the continent's teams in going out, every champion team from that distant year qualified for the round of 16. Al-Hilal, champions from 2021, are Asia's only representatives in the knockout stage, Monterrey one of only two from CONCACAF, Palmeiras, the Copa Libertadores winners in 2021, made it through, as did Chelsea. By contrast, of the 16 teams going home, nine qualified via coefficient or play-off, which would appear the most up to date assessment of club form. Of the five European and South American clubs to exit at the group stage — River Plate, Boca Juniors, Atletico Madrid, Porto and RB Salzburg — none of them arrived victorious. Keep Club World Cup in USA? It makes some sense… Having written that the next Club World Cup should be in Brazil, a friend made a very strong argument for keeping it here in the United States. Yes, the heat, the travel, the timings, local apathy, the stadiums selected are too big, all well-aired arguments. But, he said, there is no country with the make-up of America. All human life is here, meaning every team has its following. How many of what seemed thousands turning out for ES Tunis from Tunisia were actually Tunisians living in the US? Did Al-Ahly fans really travel in such numbers from Cairo, or were the majority the Egyptian diaspora already here? Brazil cannot deliver like that, and nor can Fifa charge anywhere near as much for tickets. We all know which argument swings it for Infantino, but it is not just American money that makes sense. World Cup win masks failures of Argentina's domestic game Of the top five all-time winners of the Copa Libertadores, four are from Argentina. River Plate and Estudiantes have four titles each, Boca Juniors six and Independiente seven. The only club in that company not from Argentina is Peñarol, of Uruguay, with five. No Brazilian club has been South American champions more than three times. Yet the past six years have brought a clean sweep of Brazilian winners, and four all-Brazilian finals, too. Since 2019, six different clubs from Brazil have reached the final, and only two from Argentina. A spread of seven different Argentinian finalists would require a countback to 1992. Winning a World Cup papers over some pretty big cracks. So does having Lionel Messi. Leaving Qatar in 2022, it was possible to think not much was wrong with Argentinian football. And in many ways, not much is. Even at 38, Messi's allure remains, as has been proven here. Argentinian talent is central to many of the best clubs in Europe, including Premier League champions, Liverpool. Yet its club football is weak, compared to Brazil. While a quartet of Brazilian clubs sailed into the round of 16 at the Club World Cup, both of Argentina's went home, Boca Juniors embarrassed having failed to beat Auckland City, while River Plate missed out to Monterrey of Mexico. Argentina no longer makes the sponsorship deals the Brazilians attract, no longer competes consistently for the biggest club prize. The money here will be a welcome bonus, but it is still swamped by what Brazil's quartet will reap. So Brazil will continue attracting the best of South America that does not go to Europe, Argentina will continue feeding off past glories, and one very present one. Both, however, hide a troubling reality for Argentina's clubs. Werner's reminder of Kaufman's inspired, unruly genius My colleague Matt Lawton's excellent interview with the Liverpool chairman Tom Werner found him telling stories of the comedian Andy Kaufman, who played Latka Gravas in Taxi. Werner, whose credits as a producer also include Roseanne and Third Rock From The Sun, had contracted Kaufman to perform Latka in the style of his character Foreign Man. But Kaufman, having accepted the role, hated Taxi, hated conventional sitcom and hated what the show did with his talent, too. He hated it so much, in fact, that he would stop his shows if anyone starting calling for Latka. He would warn that, if it happened again, he would educate by reading The Great Gatsby aloud for the remainder of the performance. Inevitably, someone in the crowd would test his patience. At which point Kaufman would stop and open the book. He often read the entire first chapter, before asking the audience if they wanted him to continue or to play a record. Kaufman had a lot of very funny routines involving the playing of records. The audience would cry out for the record. At which point, Kaufman would walk over and very slowly and methodically put on a recording — of him reading The Great Gatsby from exactly the point at which he had just stopped. For inspired, unruly genius, Mario Balotelli had nothing on that man. You've changed, Andy According to the Wimbledon chairwoman Debbie Jevans, Sir Andy Murray will help with the design of the statue to be built in his honour at the All England Club. If true, that is the least Andy Murray thing the man has ever done in his life. Unfairly treated, but Ruud should have put Leicester's needs before his own reputation Ruud Van Nistelrooy was not treated well by Leicester City, left hanging until long after the season ended. Some of his players seemed a poor lot, too, and much of the uncertainty around Leicester was a combination of dismal management and the continued vindictiveness of modern football administrators, folk who will not be satisfied until they have pushed a struggling club over a cliff. However, from the start, Van Nistelrooy did not look a good fit. Leicester were hardly thriving under Steve Cooper but he was working with significant limitations and had kept them out of the bottom three. They needed hands-on management, instead Van Nistelrooy watched his first game, away to Brentford, from the stands. Ostensibly, this was to learn more about the team. Yet Van Nistelrooy had taken four games in charge of Manchester United, and two were against Leicester. He probably knew more about them than any manager bar Cooper. It smacked of shielding his reputation. Brentford, at the time, had the best form of any home team in the country, including Liverpool — and duly beat Leicester 4-1. It meant, however, that Van Nistelrooy's first game was at home to West Ham United who were in equally pitiful form. He won that match, and then one other, before Leicester were relegated. So, yes, Van Nistelrooy was poorly served by Leicester; but it cuts both ways. Shattered players? Don't be so sure The prevalent wisdom is that the two English clubs at the Club World Cup will be shattered come the middle of the domestic campaign, having moved from here to pre-season training with barely a break. Do not be so sure. Both seem to be using this as pre-season, and will probably give the players extended time off when the tournament concludes. New signings will have bedded in, too. Not saying it works. But not saying it won't.
BBC News
05-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
'I have to win' - watch new Rangers head coach Martin's unveiling
Update: Date: 11:39 BST Title: Improvements on and off the pitch Content: What is success for Russell Martin? "It's to win trophies," he said. "It's to build a culture that we are proud of and people can feel when they come into the building. An environment of hard work, of honestly and of openness. "To see a team that doesn't look different every week, that is always trying to improve and develop in our own way, rather than focusing on the opposition too much. We're going to do it our way and we're all going to be on the same page. "We have to improve the team on the pitch and improve the environment off the pitch." Update: Date: 11:36 BST Title: Post Content: What a photo this is. Update: Date: 11:33 BST Title: 'I know the expectation' Content: On the level of expectation on him, Russell Martin said: "I've managed three clubs, all with the same concept of the game - to be the aggressor with the ball and without it. "They all played different shapes and different people making up different positions. "We are here to win and we will do that in the best way we possibly can. "That is what Rangers fans expect, to be really aggressive, really intense, really passionate, really hard-working first and foremost. "I know the expectation here is to win. We want to do that in a way that's aligned with how we want to feel about the team and how Rangers fans want to feel about their team." Update: Date: 11:31 BST Title: 'Don't judge me as a player' Content: "I played here for a very short period," said Russell Martin. "When I look back on my playing career, the one thing that hurt me a lot was that it didn't go well here. "I wasn't quite in the right place physically to do as well as I possibly could. I'm desperate to show a different version of myself. "It's really exciting, the whole thing. I was honest from the outset that this was my first choice and I'm delighted I'm now here." Update: Date: 11:30 BST Title: Martin 'grateful & excited' for Rangers challenge Content: This video can not be played New head coach Martin relishing Rangers task Update: Date: 11:28 BST Title: 'Taking time to reflect and review' Content: "There were a few opportunities since I left Southampton, but I wanted to take time to reflect and review what we've learned as a coaching staff and what I've learned as a leader and a coach. "That time was really important. "When this one was first suggested, this was the one I really wanted. One because of the expectation and the size of it, what it means to so many people. The opportunity to come here and experience something different to anything else in football." Kevin Thelwell, Russell Martin and Patrick Stewart in the Blue Room at Ibrox this morning Update: Date: 11:25 BST Title: 'A clear football style' Content: Here's some more from Rangers chief executive Patrick Stewart. "I'm really delighted to br introducing Russell to you as the new head coach of Rangers. "Russell's appointment is the culmination of a number of steps we've been working on since I joined Rangers. "We've been identifying a clear football style and identity and in Russell, we've got a head coach that aligns with that style and identity. "We're looking for a head coach who will improve our culture, develop our squad and ultimately win matches. Russell has been the standout candidate. "Russell is no stranger to our club. We expect success and Russell knows that." Update: Date: 11:23 BST Title: 'It's an incredible feeling' Content: Russell Martin tells the room: "It's an incredible feeling. I'm really grateful to the board, to Patrick, to Kevin, for their faith in me. "It's been a tough and rigorous process and it's taken some time, but that's what you expect when you want to be manager of a club of this stature, size and expectation. "I'm desperate to get started and I'm excited about what's to come." Update: Date: 11:22 BST Title: Sip of water, chaps? Content: Kheredine IdessaneBBC Scotland at Ibrox Ever the gentleman, Russell Martin's first act is to pour some water for Kevin Thelwell, his new sporting director, before taking a sip himself. Update: Date: 11:21 BST Title: Post Content: "This is the one I really wanted" Russell Martin tells the room, while also mentioning other opportunities he had. He is talking about the hurt he had of not bringing his best when he was at Ibrox as a player. Update: Date: 11:20 BST Title: Post Content: We're now on to a brief speech from Kevin Thelwell, the club's new sporting director. But now we're on to the main man. Standby... Update: Date: 11:19 BST Title: Post Content: "Improve culture, develop our squad, and ultimately win matches." That's what Patrick Stewart has just told the room. "We expect success and Russell knows that." No pressure, Russell. Update: Date: 11:17 BST Title: Post Content: Rangers chief executive Patrick Stewart is kicking things off first. "Russell's appointment is a culmination of a series of steps" he tells the room. Update: Date: 11:16 BST Title: Post Content: Here he comes... Update: Date: 11:15 BST Title: Post Content: The journalists are circling with their dictaphones, we can't be far away now. Either that or the biscuit platter has now just been levelled. Update: Date: 11:10 BST Title: Standing room only Content: Kheredine IdessaneBBC Scotland at Ibrox The press conference room is full. Not a spare seat to be had. It's standing room only for the photographers to my right, who - to mix my sporting metaphors - are lined up like the slips in a cricket team to the side of the wicketkeeper. Four slips and a gully, I'd say. Who's silly mid-off? Answers on a postcard. We're expecting Russell Martin to rock up at 11.15am sharp. Until then, talk among yourselves. Update: Date: 11:09 BST Title: Post Content: We're now getting live pictures from the press room in Ibrox as we get ready for Russell Martin's arrival. Don't adjust your speakers, we've just turned it down so you can't hear the assembled Scottish press pack discuss what they had for their breakfast. Update: Date: 11:06 BST Title: 'Standout candidate' Content: Rangers chief executive Patrick Stewart, who led the head coach search along with Thelwell, said Martin was the "standout candidate". The Ibrox club spoke to former Real Madrid assistant manager Davide Ancelotti and former Feyenoord manager Brian Priske, while former manager Gerrard and ex-Ajax head coach Francesco Farioli were among those also linked with the post. "Our criteria were clear: we wanted a coach who will excel in terms of how we want to play, improve our culture, develop our squad, and ultimately win matches," Stewart said. "This appointment is about building a winning team and a strong culture. He is no stranger to our club, we expect success and Russell knows that. We are excited for his leadership." Update: Date: 11:00 BST Title: Chatter among the journos Content: Kheredine IdessaneBBC Scotland at Ibrox There's plenty of chatter among the assembled press and media pack as we await Russell Martin's arrival. There have been various figures linked with the Rangers job. We finally have the opportunity to question the Ibrox side's chosen candidate. Cameras, phones and dictaphones at the ready. It's up to the Blue Room here at Ibrox for Martin and his new employers. Cameras and photographers only. We journalists are down in the press conference room awaiting the new head coach for his first grilling. The Ibrox Blue room will look a bit busier today... Update: Date: 10:59 BST Title: 'A brilliant appointment' Content: Your views on Martin's Rangers appointment Graeme: This is a brilliant appointment. A studious coach who has the ability to man manage and also coach technically very well without overly complicating the game. He earns the respect of his players and I feel he will bring our great club the success we have yearned for these past few years. AJ: Was an appointment no-one saw coming as so many eyes were focused on whether the takeover was going to happen or not. Thankfully, there's a structure at Rangers from the top. Unsure what the manager/head coach funds will be made available for new players, as well as players leaving. Glad it's all done before pre-season. Just got to give him time as he will have to hit the ground running in the league and challenge for the league. Would say that Rangers have to focus more on the Scottish Cup and League Cup as well, and get a European run if possible, but league would be the main objective for the club and manager. Brian: A man with not a great track record. Played for Rangers for a short period in 2008 then gone, past managerial experience with clubs not outstanding, now back with Rangers as manager, this is not filling me with confidence for our way forward. But l hope he proves me wrong along with thousands more. Michael: Barry Ferguson must be gutted. He could probably have understood an experienced big name with undoubted history.
